1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opening-and-closing device for vehicle door that can release a close-latch mechanism for locking a vehicle door with an electric-powered releasing mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an opening-and-closing device for vehicle door is used that has a latch mechanism (close-latch mechanism) including a latch configured to engage with a striker to hold a door in a closed position and a ratchet configured to engage with the latch, and an electric-powered releasing mechanism mechanically coupled to the ratchet and including a driving source such as a motor.
In such configuration, when an electrical trouble, such as a malfunction or stick of the motor, occurs when the electric-powered releasing mechanism is performing a releasing operation to cancel the engagement in the close-latch mechanism, the ratchet might be locked in the position of the releasing operation (this state is hereinafter referred to as a “locked-in-release state”). In the locked-in-release state, the ratchet cannot further pivot to engage with the latch to hold the door in the closed position.
To handle such trouble, a configuration is provided that can cancel the locked-in-release state by inserting a tool in a tool-hole opened to the room in a vehicle or by manually operating a knob provided in the room (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 4428047 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-213818).
In the aforementioned related art, a special procedure is required to manually cancel the locked-in-release state. This requires a user to previously know the procedure to cancel the locked-in-release state. A user who does not know the procedure have to look into a vehicle manual or make a search to find a procedure, and hence the door cannot be closed immediately.